8) Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas
What they said then:
Terry Gilliam’s boozy, hazy adaptation of Hunter S. Thompson’s gonzo novel landed with a thud in 1998. The Washington Post wrote that “it tells no story at all,” the Guardian criticized the film for its apparent “tedium,” and USA Today called Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas “simply unwatchable.” Which is sort of what Gilliam – who spoke of hoping for “outrage” – wanted, so it’s not all bad.
What they say now:
To be fair to critics at the time, they couldn’t see into the future to know that they were taking a Johnny Depp on good form for granted. Fear and Loathing does still divide, but the critical consensus seems to grow more positive with every passing year. It’s become, like so many Gilliam projects, a cult film, praised for its good bits rather derided for its bad.